Fire At Will.

I collected my things slowly, watching the guards take Frank so they could get him ready to go back to the world. He’d return in a week for his hearing, and come back to stay for longer depending on what the court decided. I hugged my coat to my chest and walked to the front. I tried not to think of the fact that I was going to have to probably find another job; working at the Cartoon Network and someplace else. I had just given about all the money I had to bail him out; I had maybe one thousand bucks to my name; which I needed to pay my rent... and eat.

“Thank you,” I mumbled to the guards who were standing at the door. I looked up at Frank, who was glaring at me. “Ready to go?” My voice came out in a small squeak. Frank shrugged but followed me out the door. I stared back at the jail, wasn’t he at least remotely happy to get out of there? My eyes flashed back to Frank, he was by my car and too focused on fixing his lip ring and gauges they had given back to him.

“Get in,” I mumbled hoarsely as I unlocked the doors to the car. Frank did just that, kicking his feet up on the dashboard. “You’re sad,” he said plainly.
My ex-boyfriend was wanted and in jail. I had just dumped out my bank account to pay to get him out and he was acting like an asshole. I didn’t even get so much as a thank you.
“No,” I shifted the gears roughly, first now into second, and once we were on the main road, second into third and all the way up to fifth as we got on the highway. I felt like the ash on the tip of Frank’s cigarette, or the chipped black nail polish on his fingernails. I wasn’t wanted anymore.

“I have to go to work,” I said simply. “Uh,” I put the car into park and tossed him the keys to my apartment. “D-don’t do anything stupid... I just emptied my bank account to get you out of there.”
Frank looked shocked and clutched the keys in his hand as if he was mulling over something. He nodded, “Alright,” he said after a moment and then got out of the car. I watched him go up to the apartment building and didn’t pull out of the driveway until I saw the lights flick on.

I spent most of my day showing the network my new sketches; and once they told me to fuck off and draw more, I used the time to job search. As soon as I was let off work I drove down to every place that was hiring and picked up applications. They were nothing jobs, coffee shop shifts and waiting tables. When I got back to the apartment, Frank was sleeping in my bed. I sighed, setting down the pile of applications and gently hugged the blanket back around him.
He stirred, looking up at me through bleary eyes. “Hey,” I said softly. “You hungry? I’ll make some food.”